The Awareness Center closed. We operated from April 30, 1999 - April 30, 2014. This site is being provided for educational & historical purposes.
We were the international Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault (JCASA); and were dedicated to ending sexual violence in Jewish communities globally. We did our best to operate as the make a wish foundation for Jewish survivors of sex crimes. In the past we offered a clearinghouse of information, resources, support and advocacy.

Judge John P. Miller of the Baltimore City Circuit Court basically gave Israel (Yisroel) Shapiro’s a slap on the hand after entering an Alford plea on criminal sexual abuse charges. Besides being a former bar-mitzvah teacher, Yisroel Shapiro is an ordained orthodox rabbi. This is a fact that appears to have been downplayed in the media and the community.

Yisroel Shapiro was sentenced to perform 300 hours of community service and to pay $10,800 in restitution to those he criminally sexually abused. This is a far cry from the 1.2 million dollars that survivors in California were awarded. The message sent out by Judge Miller is that the pain and suffering of those who were victimized in Maryland does not have as much value as those who were sexually violated in California.

The court also ordered that is to keep away from anyone under the age of 18, must also undergo sex offender screening and treatment and is also prohibited from using a computer to contact children.

The problem is that our community continues to fail to protecting our children. On February 20th, the Vaad (Jewish Religious Court) put together a program in which David Mandel of Ohel (mental health agency in NYC), basically told the audience not to report sex crimes to law enforcement, yet instead to report crimes to our rabbonim.

Due to the archaic laws in Maryland, and that this state is not in compliance with the federal mandate, Yisroel Shapiro will not be placed on the sex offender registry at this time. Considering this, we need to be asking who’s going to notify the parents in Shapiro’s neighborhood that he is a danger to their children?

The scary part about all of this is the fact that Yisroel Shapiro is employed at a kosher butcher shop One in which children can be seen going in and out of with their parents. Shapiro also lives on a street in which many children also reside. He also prays three times a day in a minyon in which children are present. Who’s going to be monitoring his activities to insure he is not alone with children?

It is a known fact that Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro davens (prays) at Congregation Darchei Tzedek. For many months The Awareness Center has been demanding that Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz make public a safety plan to insure the safety of the children in his shul. To this date this has not occurred. The goal is prevent anymore children from being harmed. The Awareness Center’s goal is to offer hope, healing and a voice to all Jewish survivors of sex crimes.___________________________________________________________________________________Yisroel Shapiro Isn't Shackled, His Survivors ArePhil Jacobs March 12, 2008

Last week in Judge Miller's courtroom, suspects were herded in and out for various crimes, including attempted murder to drug possession with the intent to distribute.

The one constant sound in the room was the jingling of the chains connecting the leg irons while the accused made their way into the courtroom escorted by armed prison guards.

One of the only members of the fraternity of the accused not wearing handcuffs or shackles was Yisroel Shapiro.

Tall, bearded, wearing a yarmulke and a suit, he stood out. He could have been a court employee, an attorney or just another spectator.

Here was a man who was about to be given a guilty sentence for two counts of molestation. While the majority of the other suspects in the room left with their jewelry locked on their wrists and ankles, Mr. Shapiro, after hearing the sentence and hearing the emotional words of his accusers sauntered out into the courtroom hallway.

He was free to go.

He will not spend a second in jail.

He will not be listed on a sex offenders registry.

Shapiro got a good deal. Again, my oft-remembered words of Ephraim Shapiro survivor Murray Levin, it's all reward and no risk came to mind.

Until we get the law to change. Until we can get our legislators and our Jewish organizations such as the Jewish Council to understand Monday's true failure of justice, Yisroel Shapiro goes unshackled.

The survivors of sexual molestation in the state of Maryland, are very much handcuffed.

The template for justice must be changed to unlock those cuffs, so that survivors are free to live their lives. Until someone in the organized Jewish community or the political community gets â€œbraveâ€ I worry that Iâ€™ll never see it happen.

I "hear" the sounds of chains dragging across the floor. Only it's the innocent who wear those chains, not guilty felons such as Yisroel Shapiro or his ilk.

There's something very wrong about that.___________________________________________________________________________________

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Arrested on multiple charges of sexual assault.Allegations of clergy sexual abuse against adult women stem back to at least 1998. Rabbi Krispin has close ties to Chabad and is married to a granddaughter of the Baba Sali.

The
Chabad House in the Givat Moreh neighborhood of Afula, run by Rabbi
Levi Aryeh Kurtz, organized a series of farbrengens this year for Yud
Tes Kislev. At the main event, the keynote speaker was Rabbi Shmuel
Krispin, a grandson of the late tzaddik, Rabbi Meir Abouchatzeira. Rabbi
Krispin discussed the importance of learning Chassidus, illustrating
the points he made with fascinating stories from his family.

Men, women and children from all walks of life and religious backgrounds
attended the farbrengen, where resolutions were taken to increase in
activities among the women of the neighborhood.

The next night, motzoei Kaf Kislev, another farbrengen was held for the
Tmimim shluchim from the Chabad yeshiva in Migdal Haemek. It took place
in the Ohel Shlomo Shul in the neighborhood, which is usually the beis
midrash of the local Litvish yeshiva.

Rabbi of northern town detained on sexual assault chargesBy Fadi Eyadat, Haaretz CorrespondentHaaretz - March 18, 2008Police have detained the Chief Rabbi of city in the north on suspicion that he sexually assaulted and harassed three employees of the city's religious council.

The 73-year-old rabbi, who is also suspected of assaulting two women who came to the council offices for guidance, has denied all charges against him.

Police suspect the rabbi assaulted the employees over a number of years, with the allegations only coming to light after an alleged victim complained to police, leading officers to a series of other women who reported being assaulted.

Police reported the investigation is ongoing and that due to the old age of the suspect, if convicted he will probably be sentenced to house arrest

…“Shortly before Chai Elul 5757,
HaRav Gedalia Axelrod of Haifa
prepared a new p’sak din, based on the
fact that the Rebbe’s promise does not
remain unfulfilled. Rabbi Axelrod
included the fact that the Rebbe is a
prophet and the halacha that a good
prophecy can not be nullified. Along
with Rabbi Axelrod, HaRav Mordechai
Ashkenazi of Kfar Chabad and HaRav
Boruch Boaz Yurkowitz of Lod also
signed the p’sak din. In order to widen
the scope of the entire matter, Rabbi
Axelrod turned to me, since I had
already been involved previously, and
requested that I secure additional
signatures.”…Weren’t you worried about bringing such a letter to non- Lubavitcher rabbanim? I see nothing to fear. Eventually, everyone will accept the sovereignty of the Rebbe – and the sooner, the better...

Naturally, we started with
rabbanim who are openly more
connected to such matters. The
pioneer in this effort was HaRav
Yaakov Yosef of Be’er Sheva [Ovadia Yosef's renegade Chabad son]. We
approached him first due to his warm
relationship with Chabad. We told
him that dozens of rabbanim had
already signed the p’sak, and now we
were asking him to join them. Rabbi
Yosef responded that regardless of
who has signed before, he’s signing
now.

Around this same time, HaRav Boaz Kali and HaRav Yigal Pizem came to the rav of Kiryat Bialik HaRav Machluf Aminadav Krispin,
and asked him to sign. Rabbi Krispin was also known for his warm
friendship with Chabad. He related to the entire matter with great
interest, and asked to see the relevant sichos. When he was convinced as
to their validity, he decided to form a beis din of seven members to
discuss the matter with the utmost seriousness and to come to a halachic
decision. While he lobbied hard to create the beis din, in the end, it
did not materialize. Nevertheless, Rabbi Krispin himself did sign the p’sak.…

Rabbi allegedly sexually harassed woman who came to him for marital counseling with her husband.

The Haifa District Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment on Tuesday
against the Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Bialik for sexually assaulting and
harassing three women.

According
to the indictment, between December 2003 and January 2004, Rabbi
Aminadav Krispin allegedly committed lewd acts and sexually harassed a
female housekeeper who worked in the Rabbinate's office.

The
indictment further reveals that Krispin was charged with a similar
offense in June 2003, when a woman came to him for counseling with her
husband. The rabbi allegedly asked the husband to leave the room and,
once alone, kissed the woman's head, claiming that he was giving her a
special blessing, and made other sexual overtures.

An
incident from 1998 is also included in the indictment, even though the
statute of limitations on the crime has run out, in which the rabbi
allegedly sexually harassed a secretary at the religious council. The
defendant is not charged with the crime, but it is included in the
indictment in order to demonstrate a pattern. The indictment also
charges that the rabbi tried to intimidate one of the witnesses in the
case after these allegations came to light.

Some of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in my efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

We Must Feel The Pain And AnguishBy Member of the Baltimore Community(2008) The Awareness Center, Inc.

Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer

Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer of Baltimore writes in this week's shul bulletin for Parshas VaYikra: "We must feel the pain and anguish of the parents, siblings, families, and friends of these eight young Bnai Torah who were brutally murdered [in Eretz Yisroel]."

It is human to ask WHY and know that there is no ultimate answer in this world, but there are ways of analyzing world events to learn lessons.

These events unfortunately parallel the current community topic of sexual abuse and child molestation. We must connect to the pain and anguish of the parents, siblings, families, and friends of the many young B'nai Torah (both boys and girls) who have been sexually molested and are then coerced to keep silent.

The parallel continues: the perpetrators of murder in Eretz Yisroel are the Arabs. Yet the Israeli government leaders give the enemy Arabs political power, lethal weapons and international support. Our Rabbinic leaders enable the perpetrators and molesters to hide under the cover of victim silence. This cover up allows the perpetrators to continue their destruction of the physical, emotional and spiritual lives of more Jewish victims, families and future generations of Klal Yisroel.

So now we have a hint of one of the deep dark reasons WHY tragedy has hit our people at this time and this place. In the holy of holies, Yerushalayim, and with our holy kinderlach.

According to national statistics a child molester will criminally sexually violate between 117 - 120 times prior to law enforcement being notified.

Last month at a community meeting, David Mandel of Ohel Children Home (NYC) and Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer instructed community members not to report alleged sex crimes to the police. Instead to report the crimes to the rabbonim. Considering the fact that this policy has been endorsed by the president of the Vaad of Baltimore (Jewish Religious Court), one has to wonder if the number of victims left by a sexual predator within the Eruv would be double the national norm? -- Vicki Polin, Director - The Awareness Center

For more information on various alleged and convicted sex offenders living in the Baltimore orthodox community click below (alphabetical order):

Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people; neither shalt thou stand idly by the blood of thy neighbor" (Leviticus 19:16).

Saturday, March 15, 2008

The
United Synagogue seems to think it is above the law and can ignore its
statutory duty to follow procedures and guidelines relating to child
protection, including child sexual abuse (JC, March 9).

The 1989 Children Act is explicit that child protection and children's
needs are paramount. Therefore, it is for social workers and the police
Child Protection Unit, who have the statutory responsibility, to decide
on the appropriate action to be taken.

The United Synagogue's only emphasis and primary concern now should be
the likely effect on the victims and their families if Andrew Josephs,
the perpetrator, were to be allowed to return to their shul. This could
have a devastating effect on them.

The United Synagogue has a responsibility to take immediate action to
train all their staff, at all levels, in their duties under the Act, and
to seek professional advice as to best practice.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - A group of Jewish advocates against sexual assault is angry over a plea deal for a Baltimore City rabbi who pleaded guilty to abusing young boys but avoided jail time.

"I'm very upset about it," said Vicki Polin of the Awareness Center in the city.

"He should go to jail. I'm also very upset that he won't be on the sex offender registry."

Israel Shapiro, 57, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of sexual abuse of a child and one count of third-degree sex offense before Baltimore City Circuit Judge John Miller and was sentenced to five years of probation.

He must stay away from his victims and have no unsupervised contact with children, under the terms of the plea agreement, prosecutors said.

Shapiro also was ordered to pay $10,800 in restitution to one of the victims, undergo sex offender screening and treatment.

He is also prohibited from using a computer to contact children.

Shapiro was not required to register as a sex offender because the incidents occurred before the sex offender registry was created.

Lawmakers in Annapolis are working on a bill that would make the registry retroactive.

Baltimore City State's Attorney Patricia Jessamy said in an interview Monday she was hoping to get the law changed to make Maryland residents aware of the those living in their neighborhoods who committed sexual offenses prior to the creation of the registry.

A statement of probable cause is not in Shapiro's court file because Shapiro was charged by a grand jury indictment.

But Polin said the abuse dates back to 1988 and involves 12- and 13-year-old boys whom Shapiro taught.

The Awareness Center posted a photo of Shapiro on its Web site to make the Jewish community in the Baltimore region aware of the allegations against Shapiro, she said.

But Polin said she worries that without Shapiro registering as a sex offender, there won't be enough scrutiny on him.

"This guy goes into a synagogue where there's tons of little kids, and no one is monitoring him," Polin said.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Arrested after allegations were made of child sexual
abuse. Shapiro is the son of the deceased alleged serial sexual predator
- Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro. Yisroel Shapiro was born in 1950.

October, 2004 -- A flyer was posted in the Jewish
community in Baltimore as a way to warn community members of the allegations
made against Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro.

July, 13, 2007 -- Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro became
the target of a State's Attorney's Office investigation, when a few adult
survivors filed a police report alleging that they were sexually victimized
as children.

December 5, 2007 -- According to Tammy
Griffin-Lawman of the Baltimore City, State's Attorneys office, Yisroel Shapiro
was arrested and charged with two counts of sexual offense in the third degree,
sexual offense in the fourth degree and battery.

March 10, 2008 -- Found
guilty of child sexual molestation and given five years probation. Due
to the current laws in Maryland Yisroel Shapiro will NOT be on the sex offender
registry. At this time the state of Maryland does not comply with the Federal
mandate.

If there is any information missing from this page, please forward it to The Awareness Center.___________________________________________________________________________________Disclaimer: Inclusion in this website does not constitute a
recommendation or endorsement. Individuals must decide for themselves if
the resources meet their own personal needs.

Failure
to protect the vulnerable is a violation of the following verse: Thou
shalt notstand idly by the blood of your neighbor (Lev. 19:16) --
"Whoever desecrates the name of Heaven in private will ultimately be
punished in public, whether the desecration was committed
unintentionally or intentionally." Any conspiracy to conceal information
about sex crimes will ultimately be made public, creating an even
greater hillul Hashem. -- Despite historic debates and arguments, the
consensus of contemporary Jewish religious authorities is that such
reporting is religiously mandatory. (Rabbi Mark Dratch).

Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro

May
28, 2003 -- The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) maintains that
reporting acts or suspicions of child abuse is not mesirah and commits
itself and its members to reporting acts or suspicions of child abuse as
required by civil law. Unfortunately the rabbis of Baltimore have never
adopted these policies.

One of the many traditions in the
orthodox community of Baltimore is not to report sex crimes to law
enforcement or Child Protective Services (CPS). The reason was for fear
that doing so would start another pogrom (persecution of the Jewish
people).

Instead the custom has been for rabbis to handle things
quietly and discreetly. It's also not uncommon for signs to be posted by
concerned community members warning others of the dangers the alleged
sex offender poses to children.

This is exactly what happened a
few years ago. Allegations were made that a teacher by the name of Rabbi
Yisroel Shapiro had molested children. The pious rabbis of Baltimore
decided they could handle the "situation" on their own. A decision was
reached. The rabbis at the bet din of Baltimore (Jewish religious court)
believed Yisroel was guilty. The agreement was that Yisroel Shapiro
would have a career where he no longer had contact with children.
Yisroel Shapiro went from being a teacher at one of Balitmore's private
Jewish schools to becoming a butcher.

Israel Shapiro is married
and had children living in his home. Child Protection Services (CPS) was
never notified, nor was a police report made, making it virtually
impossible for there to be an official investigation, possible arrest
and or trial. Without the proper law enforcement officials being notified, it makes it impossible for Yisroel Shapiro ever being listed on the national sex offender registry.

As
a reaction, a small group of concerned citizens created flyer's and
posted signs in the community in hopes of preventing another child from
being molested, yet not much has happened since then.

One of the
issues that we all need to be aware of is the fact that Yisroel
Shapiro's father was a prominent orthodox rabbi in Baltimore. Besides
being a synagogue rabbi, his father was the principal of a the Talmudic
Academy of Baltimore. His father was connected to may other prominent
orthodox rabbis in Baltimore and worldwide. Recently one of Baltimore's
deep dark secrets was made public. Yisroel Shapiro's father, also had a
problem with his "urges". Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro had been allegedly
molesting boys for over fifty years. One survivor stated he was sure
that Ephraim Shapiro molested hundreds if not thousands of bar mitzvah
age boys.

The way the ultra-orthodox rabbis of Baltimore operate
is very similar to the way the Catholic church deals with allegations of
clergy sexual abuse. It appears the rabbis do what they can to silence
the victims. It also seems as if they rabbis are more concerned with
protecting their own personal images and assets, then they are in
keeping the Jewish children of Baltimore safe.

Can you imagine the PR nightmare the rabbis of Baltimore were faced with? How would they do damage control?

Many
survivors of Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro have stated that they were sure the
rabbis of Baltimore were very aware of that he was an "alleged" child
molester. A few years ago the rabbis were faced with the fact that the
son of this prominent rabbi, was also allegedly molesting children.
Instead of doing the right thing and notifing the police and child
protective services, they chose to handle the matter on their own.

Keep
in mind that Yisroel Shapiro's brothers also hold very prominent
positions in Baltimore and around the country. The tradition has always
been to protect family members of sex offenders over protecting family
members of sexually abused children. As a community we need to
understand that family members of both offenders and those who have been
sexually violated need support. They are not responsible for the
actions of the offender, except if they willingly cover up these crimes
-- which could lead to more children being abused. The problem is that
all parties involved need counseling. Sex offenders need to be held
accountable for their crimes and can receive treatment in prison and
often will need residential treatment after they are released. Survivors
of sex crimes need both rape victim advocacy and counseling.

It's
unknown at this time if the children who were allegedly victimized by
Yisroel Shapiro ever received rape crisis counseling. It is also unknown
if Yisroel Shapiro ever received sex offender treatment by a qualified
mental health provider.

There is no statute of limitations on
crimes against children. It's not to late to file a police report and
have him investigation. If you or someone you know was victimized by
Yisroel Shapiro please contact your local rape crisis center. They are
there to protect your rights and can help you make a police report. Rape
crisis center's offer free rape counseling and legal advocacy.

If you suspect that a child is being abused or neglected in the state of Maryland, you should call: (800) 332-6347

Dear Mr. Olemgbe,
At the end of this letter is a list of names of rabbis and other individuals who have been deterring members of
the orthodox Jewish community of Baltimore from going to law enforcement or child protective services when
there are allegations of child abuse and neglect.

What has been happening instead is that these individuals have conducted their own investigations and have
determined they could better handle such cases. These are rabbis and other community leaders who carry a
great deal of clout in the Baltimore Jewish community. Basically if an individual goes against decisions or
decrees, an individual and or family members will not be allowed to attend the Jewish day schools and or
family members will not be allowed pray in the local synagogues. Other sanctions have also been implemented
depending on the case. We have also had cases in which survivors and family members have been chased out of
town.

I want to give you some back ground information on Yisroel (Israel) Shapiro and several others related case
since the same individuals keep deterring victims and family members from reporting alleged sex crimes.

I’ve been in contact with several of Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro’s survivors. They have told me that they believe
there are hundreds of men who were molested by Ephraim Shapiro, when they were around the 12 -14 years
old. The oldest survivor I know is currently 65. The youngest survivors are now in their late 30’s, early 40’s.

The first allegations made against Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro (that I know of) was about 4 -5 years ago. The rabbis
investigated and determined he had a problem with his “urges” and gave him a position in which he would not
have contact with kids. He is currently working as a butcher. Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro’s brother is the principal
of Bais Yaakov High School for girls. His brother is a very powerful man in the Baltimore Jewish community.
His other brothers live in other states and are also principals of school and also carry a great deal of clout.

I’ve been told that the rabbis who conducted the investigation on Shapiro included Rabbi Moshe Heinemann
and Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer.

Two weeks ago there was a meeting at Bais Yaakov High school in which two of Ephraim Shapiro’s past
survivors and two of Yisroel Shapiro’s brother’s met. Phil Jacobs, senior editor of the Baltimore Jewish Timeswas the individual who organized the meeting. I was told that at the meeting the two brothers disclosed the
information that their brother Yisroel was guilty of molesting children and that was the reason he was
currently employed as a butcher. Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro goes to synagogue three times a day to pray in a
minyan (at least 10 men being present to say special prayers). During a minyan it is not uncommon for boys who
are at least 13-years-old to be present. It is unknown if Yisroel Shapiro is monitored when he’s around these
children. I’ve also been told by a reliable sources that Yisroel Shapiro never received sex-offender treatment.

I’ve attached a flyer that went around a few years ago on Yisroel Shapiro. This is the way various
individuals in the orthodox Jewish community attempted to warn parents about Yisroel Shapiro.

Background Information
When Rabbi Matis Weinberg was a teenager he began molesting boys at Ner Israel High School and
Rabbinical College. One of Matis’s first victims was one of his younger brothers. His brother also has had
allegations made against him, yet the allegations were made by adult women outside of Maryland.

Matis is the son of Rabbi Yaakov and Chana Weinberg. The Weinberg’s ran Ner Israel High School and
Rabbinical College for many years. Matis’s grandfather, Rabbi Yaakov Yitchok Ruderman was one of the
founders of the school. The yeshiva (school) is currently ran by Beryl Weisbord, who is Matis Weinberg’s
brother-in-law and other very close family friends (see list below).

Rabbi Matis Weinberg started molesting boys as a teenager. I’ve been told he headed a gang of teens who would
molest younger children at the school. Matis no longer lives in the community, yet his parents have a long
history deterred survivors of sexual abuse/assault from making police reports. Matis raped boys in Canada,
Baltimore, California and Israel. No police report was ever made on him. You can read about this case at: CLICK HERE

Aviva (Weinberg) Weisbord, Phd is one of Matis Weinberg’s siblings. She is married to Rabbi Beryl Weisbord.
Rabbi Weisbord is the dean of students at Ner Israel. Aviva Weisbord is involved with Jewish Family
Services of Baltimore. In the past allegations have been made against her in breach confidentiality by several
different survivors stating when they told her of their abuse she immediately told the rabbis, verses making a
hotline report. One of those making this claim is one of the survivors of Rabbi Eliezer Eisgrau.

Eisgrau is the
current principal of an elementary school for boys call “The Torah Institute”. You can learn more about the
allegations against rabbi Eisgrau: CLICK HERE

Rabbi Eisgrau has been protected by Rabbi Moshe Heinemann, president of the Star K (organization that
assures food is kosher) and Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer (head of the Jewish religious court of Baltimore) for many
years. One of Rabbi Eisgrau’s alleged victims was his own daughter. Rabbi Eisgrau has many children and I
believe some are still under the age of 18 who are living in his home. Ten years ago a report was made on him,
yet the police detective was stonewalled by the rabbis and community members.

Another case you should be aware of is the case of Rabbi Moshe Eisemann. Rabbi Eisemann has been allegedly
molesting children for over forty years. Until recently he held a teaching position at Ner Israel High School.
He still lives on the school campus. Rabbi Eisemann is related to Rabbi Eisgrau through marriage. The only
reason Rabbi Eisemann recently retired was because of political pressure from some of his past victims who went
The Awareness Center is the Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault (JCASA)
www.theawarensscenter.org

to the administration at Ner Israel and then pled their case to Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer. Rabbi Hopfer made the
decree to “Get him out of there”, after hearing the evidence Rabbi EIsemann’s past victims provided. You can
read about this case: CLICK HERE

I also provided testimony at a senate hearing several weeks ago regarding this case. I’ve attached that
testimony for your connivence. Please feel free to contact me if you need more information. I can be reached at:
443-857-5560.

Yisroel Shapiro is the target of a State's Attorney's
Office investigation.This article is part of a continuing series on sexual
molestation in the Jewish community. The names of the alleged victims have
been changed.

Two alleged victims of sexual molestation by Yisroel
Shapiro of Olympia Avenue in Baltimore City filed a complaint June 8 with
the Baltimore City Police Department's Sex Offense Unit. The complaint triggered
an investigation by the State's Attorney's Office.

The Baltimore Jewish Times did not gain final confirmation
of the timeline of the investigation until this week.

Mr. Shapiro, a former bar mitzvah lessons teacher,
is being investigated for allegations of sexual molestation of minors. The
Jewish Times has read a copy of the filed papers.

Man holding his face ashamed

On June 11, the two alleged victims said they were
informed by the city's State's Attorney's Office that an investigation was
going forward. A staff person in the State's Attorney's Office familiar with
the case confirmed the investigation but was not authorized to release
details.

Yisroel Shapiro is the son of the late Rabbi Ephraim F. Shapiro. According to a Jewish Times investigation during the past year,
Rabbi Shapiro allegedly molested at least several dozen young boys and girls
–– perhaps in hundreds of incidents –– while serving
as principal and dormitory counselor at the Talmudical Academy and spiritual
leader of the former Agudas Achim Synagogue from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Rabbi Shapiro died in 1989.

Local attorney Isaac Klein, responding to a Jewish
Times interview request on behalf of Yisroel Shapiro via telephone, said
June 21 that although he is not Mr. Shapiro's legal counselor, "I explained
to him I could see no benefit for him to talk to you on-the-record or
off-the-record. Don't call him back. He doesn't want to talk to you." Another
intermediary several weeks ago was informed that representatives of the Jewish
Times would meet with Mr. Shapiro and share the contents of this article,
in the presence of people he chose to bring. There was no response to that
request.

Last April, two of Mr. Shapiro's brothers held a meeting
with this reporter and two alleged victims of Rabbi Shapiro ––
part of a three-hour conversation prior to the publication of the original
Jewish Times article on Rabbi Shapiro. In that encounter, the brothers
acknowledged that they had one brother who was removed from bar mitzvah teaching
lessons because there were some "questions."

"He was taken away from teaching children," said one
of the brothers. "He sought and was given help. Was that not enough? Would
it have been better if [they] had taken him out and shot him?"

In the Baltimore City Police Department complaint,
one of the alleged victims, Gary, stated, "[Yisroel Shapiro] would shuckle
[rock back and forth in prayer], holding me against himself and leining [chanting
Torah] out loud while he was feeling me up and touching me."

At another point, Gary reported, "I could feel his
erection under me. I would try to get off of his lap, but he'd hold me very
tightly. ... I must have been doing something wrong. I thought it was my
fault. It was very confusing for me as a child. I just wanted to learn."

Harold, another alleged victim, said that by his second
or third bar mitzvah lesson, Mr. Shapiro was putting his hand on his shoulder.
By the fourth lesson, Mr. Shapiro allegedly forced Harold to sit on his lap
and would inappropriately touch Harold's genitals.

When Harold alerted his mother about what was going
on, she sat in on a handful of lessons at which nothing happened other than
teaching. She felt the issue had settled down and stopped joining her son
at the lessons; the molestation allegedly started again.

How did it impact Harold? "I stopped being frum [observant]
for quite a while until I got married," he said. "I try to be a trusting
person, but in the back of my mind I'm really not."

When he sees Mr. Shapiro in the community, Harold said
he "gets a nasty feeling in my stomach."

He added, "My relationship with God changed for a while.
It's stronger now than it was then. I'm Jewish, that's the best way I can
describe it. I believe in God."

David, another alleged victim, said his mother believed
her son so much that she and her husband approached Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz
of Darchei Tzedek, the shul Mr. Shapiro attended. David remembers that his
parents were told by Rabbi Horowitz that he would look into the matter. (Rabbi
Horowitz declined to discuss this matter with the Jewish Times.) David was
allegedly molested at age 7 by Rabbi Shapiro and then at age 12 1/2 by his
bar mitzvah teacher, Yisroel Shapiro.

Meanwhile, David's parents warned other parents of
bar mitzvah-age boys about Mr. Shapiro, and he was removed from teaching
around this time.

Jon added that because he sometimes had difficulty
focusing while they were learning Torah, Mr. Shapiro would allegedly squeeze
his inner thigh to get him to pay attention.

"What I noticed was his wife was never around ó
never," he said. "We so many times ended up going into his bedroom. To this
day, I don't like to talk to him. I won't even look at him eye-to-eye when
I see him."

Paul, who co-filed the police report, went to see Mr.
Shapiro for bar mitzvah lessons as a 12-year-old Talmudical Academy student.
Mr. Shapiro, he said, would pick him up, place him on his lap, and rub his
back and legs.

"I remember coming home from my first lesson," recalled
Paul. "My brother, who also had bar mitzvah lessons from him, said, ëDid
he put you on his lap like he did with the rest of us?'"

To this day, Paul, now an accomplished area developer
and a regular at an Orthodox shul, cannot lein Torah. He attributes it directly
to the countless times he was subjected to the back and leg rubs of his
teacher.

Like others interviewed for this article, Paul kept
the physical contact a secret. But then years passed, and a chance encounter
brought him face to face with Mr. Shapiro while in line at the Colonial Village
Dunkin Donuts.

He said he reintroduced himself to Mr. Shapiro. He
told him he was older now ó 18 ó and could stand up for himself.
"I told him that I know what you did to me as a child," said Paul.

Paul added that Mr. Shapiro, caught by surprise, denied
any intention of molestation.

Seven years ago, Mr. Shapiro and one of his alleged
victims would meet. A tape recording was made of the meeting. The Jewish
Times was on hand for a replaying of the tape recently. Had he consented
to an interview, Mr. Shapiro would have been asked if he had knowledge of
the tape recording. Also, since Mr. Shapiro refuses to talk to the Jewish
Times, it is not known if one of the recorded voices is actually his.

"He told me he was teaching for 10 years prior to me,
and that he put most of his students on his lap," said a victim's voice on
the recording. "He claimed he didn't think he was doing anything wrong."

On the tape, Mr. Shapiro allegedly hinted that he had
been abused as "a young child" himself, and that he had recently received
1 1/2 years of therapy. "He thought he was OK," the victim said.

At one point on the tape, the former student said,
"A friend even told me that you laid him down and unzipped his pants."

Mr. Shapiro allegedly responded on tape, "That's not
true. I'm not that stupid. I would touch students' legs. Sometimes I would
do that, but it was not in a sense that I planned it out. As I sit here now,
I can tell you I was not fully aware that I was doing something wrong."

The alleged victim then bluntly asked, "You've molested
so many children, what makes you think they won't molest their own children?
How many kids in this community did you molest?"

Mr. Shapiro allegedly responded, "Maybe more than
one."

At another point, Mr. Shapiro allegedly said on the
tape, "It's not like I'm a serial killer where I kept records. It wasn't
done to do any harm. I'm not that way."

In a recent interview, the victim added, "Nothing really
came from the meeting other than him confessing or admitting to putting hundreds
of children on his lap. ... So he still walks the streets and lives in my
community.

"He has since stopped teaching, but so what?"

Still, the victim said that, if anything, he has worked
hard to move on with his life, even though the painful memories remain
fresh.

"I'm not mad anymore," he said. "I don't know if I'm
hurting anymore. Every survivor at some point has to move on with their lives."
n

What Happens To Those Molested?

Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro

Barbara Gradet, executive director of Jewish Family
Services, has seen more than anyone would care to see on the subject of sexual
molestation and children.

When it comes to the issue of what frequency do children
who are abused go on to become abusers, she said there is a range of
research.

Sexual abuse with girls happens more frequently in
the family than out of the family. While with boys, it's more frequent outside
of the family.

"Any of the data that is out there you have to look
at with a grain of salt," said Ms. Gradet. "This is all so under-reported.
But we've found that anywhere from one-third of sexual offenders have been
abused themselves. But I've also seen studies that show 10-12 percent of
abuse victims become abusers."

She said she thinks the smaller number is likely more
accurate.

Also, the numbers of abuse victims who become abusers
shoot up when other factors in a person's upbringing are included.

"When researchers study people who were sexual offenders
and then learn that they were abused, they then try to find out other factors
like family violence, neglect, parental neglect, emotional issues," Mrs.
Gradet said. "And when these factors are learned, the likelihood that an
abused individual becomes an abuser goes up significantly."

Ms. Gradet described the numbers she has seen as
"staggering."

In fact, she has seen studies that report one in six
boys experience some sort of sexual abuse. For girls, that number is one
in three or four. The average age of an abuse victim, she said, is nine.

Sometimes, she said, the victims do not even know they
are being abused as they are not aware of inappropriate touch
boundaries.

"It's all dreadful," she said. "This is a public health
issue, a mental health issue, a prevention issue. Usually, it's a trusted
adult or adolescent. It's that trust factor."_________________________________________________________________________________

Yisroel Shapiro
Arrested

By Phil Jacobs

Baltimore Jewish Times - December 5, 2007

Yisroel Shapiro has been arrested and charged with
two counts of sexual offense in the third degree, sexual offense in the fourth
degree and battery.

An arrest warrant was carried out by Baltimore City
Police Department detectives at the request of the City State's Attorney's
office.

"Mr. Shapiro has been arrested and charged," said Tammy
Griffin-Lawman of the City's State's Attorney's office.

Mr. Shapiro, the son of the late Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro,
himself the center of a Jewish Times investigation of alleged sexual molestation,
is a resident of Olympia Avenue in Baltimore City.

An original complaint was filed with the City State's
Attorney's office alleging Mr. Shapiro, currently an employee of a local
kosher butcher shop, of past molestations. In the Baltimore City Police
Department complaint, one of the alleged victims, stated: "Yisroel Shapiro
would shuckle or rock back and forth holding me against himself and leaning
(chanting Torah) out loud while he was feeling me up and touching me."

At another point, the victim reported, "I could feel
his erection under me. I would try to get off of his lap, but he'd hold me
very tightly. I must have been doing something wrong. I thought it was my
fault. It was very confusing for me as a child. I just wanted to learn."

"I'm ecstatic," said one of his victims, who asked
to remain anonymous at this time. "Last night ( Tuesday) I had to pick out
his photo in a photo line up. They wrote up the warrant and went and picked
him up."

Mr. Shapiro will face a bail review, according to Ms.
Griffin-Lawman, and the case will then make its way through district or circuit
court.

Mr. Shapiro had hinted to one of his victims that he
had been abused as a "young child" himself, and that he had received
therapy.

In terms of his alleged crimes, Mr. Shapiro said to
the victim, "I can tell you I was not fully aware that I was doing something
wrong."_________________________________________________________________________________

City bar mitzvah teacher charged with sex offenses - Incidents
involving two boys allegedly occurred more than a decade
ago

By Melissa Harris

Baltimore Sun - December 18, 2007

A former bar mitzvah lessons teacher in Baltimore's
Orthodox Jewish community has been charged with sex offenses against two
boys that are alleged to have occurred more than a decade ago, according
to the city state's attorney's office.

The boys were learning to chant passages from the Torah
at Israel Shapiro's home on Olympia Avenue on separate occasions in September
1988 and June 1994 when the offenses are said to have occurred, according
to court documents.

Shapiro was charged Dec. 4 with felony child abuse,
second-degree assault and a fourth-degree sex offense in both cases. The
boys, who are related, came forward in June, according to Baltimore police
spokesman Sterling Clifford.

Prosecutors handling the case were not in their office
Tuesday, and the men making the accusations did not return phone calls
Tuesday.

Accusations against Shapiro were known in the Orthodox
community as early as 2004, when alleged victims began circulating a flier
with Shapiro's name and picture, according to
Vicki
Polin of the Awareness Center
Inc., which is an advocate on behalf of Jewish victims of sexual abuse
in Baltimore.

Polin has posted a copy of the flier on the center's
Web site.

According to court documents, Shapiro put the boys,
then age 12 and 13, on his lap while they practiced chanting the Torah. One
of the victims reported that Shapiro would touch him inappropriately over
his clothing, and the other said he was held on Shapiro's lap against his
will and touched inappropriately.

Shapiro, 57, works in a kosher butcher shop, according
to the Jewish Times, which reported extensively on the allegations
in June.

A phone message left Tuesday at Shapiro's house was
not returned.

Arthur
C. Abramson, director of the Baltimore
Jewish Council, said that the organization recently became aware of the
allegations but had not been involved in the matter or Shapiro's removal
from teaching.

"The Orthodox community -- that end of the Orthodox
community -- tends to be very insular," Abramson said. "Information can circulate
very rapidly within the framework of the Orthodox community, and it doesn't
necessarily get out into more general circles unless reported by The Sun
or the Jewish Times."

In April, amid discussions in the Orthodox community
about the allegations, Vaad HaRabbonim of Baltimore, the city's Council of
Orthodox rabbis, released a letter on
"Abuse in Our
Community."

"We feel it essential to discuss this matter directly
with you, as the greatest allies of the abuser are ignorance and silence,"
according to the letter, which was signed by nearly two dozen rabbis.

PIKESVILLE, Md. (WJZ) — At a kosher deli off
Reisterstown Road in a Pikesville stripmall, Eyewitness News found Rabbi
Yisroel Shapiro, a butcher who jumped out from behind his desk and hid from
our cameras when we tried to ask him about new criminal charges that he sexually
abused two young boys during Bar Mitzvah lessons.

Shapiro never came out, but a coworker did. The man
later yelled at Eyewitness News after we walked out the door that the allegations
against Shapiro were "fabricated."

City prosecutors say "Over the past several months,
police and prosecutors have conducted an extensive investigation that led
to the charges."

The alleged abuse took place at Shapiro's home off
Olympia Street in 1988 and 1994. Some neighbors caught wind of the allegations
a few years back and posted flyers.

One victim tells police he was forced to chant passages
from the Torah as he was inappropriately touched.

"The problem is that we don't know if there's more
victims. We know a few but not how many there have actually been," said
Vicki
Polin.

Polin heads
a support group for victims of rabbi abuse. She's concerned that some
leaders in the Orthodox community keep abusers quiet.

"They're told they shouldn't report it to secular
authorities because it could start another holocaust. Unfortunately, it starts
another type of holocaust where an accuser has access to hundreds of children
and each time they perfect their skills," she said.

Dec. 19--A former bar mitzvah lessons teacher in Baltimore's Orthodox Jewish community has been charged with sex
offenses against two boys that are alleged to have occurred more than a
decade ago, according to the city state's attorney's office.

The boys were learning to chant passages from the Torah at Israel Shapiro's
home on Olympia Avenue on separate occasions in September 1988 and June
1994 when the offenses are said to have occurred, according to court
documents.

Shapiro was charged Dec. 4 with felony child abuse, second-degree assault and a fourth-degree sex
offense in both cases. The boys, who are related, came forward in June,
according to Baltimore police spokesman Sterling Clifford.

Prosecutors handling the case were not in their office yesterday, and
the men making the accusations did not return phone calls yesterday.

Accusations against Shapiro were known in the Orthodox community as
early as 2004, when alleged victims began circulating a flier with
Shapiro's name and picture, according to Vicki Polin of the Awareness
Center Inc., which is an advocate on behalf of Jewish victims of sexual
abuse in Baltimore.

Polin has posted a copy of the flier on the center's Web site.

According to court documents, Shapiro put the boys, then age 12 and 13,
on his lap while they practiced chanting the Torah. One of the victims
reported that Shapiro would touch him inappropriately over his clothing,
and the other said he was held on Shapiro's lap against his will and
touched inappropriately.

Shapiro, 57, works in a
kosher butcher shop, according to the Jewish Times, which reported
extensively on the allegations in June.

A phone message left yesterday at Shapiro's house was not returned.

Arthur C. Abramson, director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, said that
the organization recently became aware of the allegations but had not
been involved in the matter or Shapiro's removal from teaching.

"The Orthodox community -- that end of the Orthodox community -- tends
to be very insular," Abramson said. "Information can circulate very
rapidly within the framework of the Orthodox community, and it doesn't
necessarily get out into more general circles unless reported by The Sun
or the Jewish Times."

In April, amid discussions
in the Orthodox community about the allegations, Vaad HaRabbonim of
Baltimore, the city's Council of Orthodox rabbis, released a letter on
"Abuse in Our Community."

"We feel it essential
to discuss this matter directly with you, as the greatest allies of the
abuser are ignorance and silence," according to the letter, which was
signed by nearly two dozen rabbis.

Shapiro is out on a combined $175,000 bail in the two cases. _________________________________________________________________________________

CALL TO ACTION: Case of Rabbi
Yisroel Shapiro

Demanding Transparency and
Accountability from our Religious Leaders!

December 28, 2007

Outside of Congregation Darchi Tzedek

It's a well known fact
in the orthodox community of Baltimore that Yisroel Shapiro daven's (prays)
at Congregation Darchi Tzedek synagogue, located on Seven Mile Lane. This
is a synagogue in which children can be seen running in and out of. One would
think that Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz's first concern would be to make sure the
children of his shul were protected and to start asking if any children might
have already been molested so that he could assist in them getting help.
To this day Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz has never issued public statement warning
his congregants of the fact that Shapiro was arrested and charged with child
molestation. Unless a parent read The Awareness Center's web page, has been
reading blogs or another parent told them, they are unaware that there is
an alleged sexual predator amongst them.

The Awareness Center is asking that everyone contact
Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz and the Baltimore Vaad HaRabbonim Rabbinical and ask
them to:

Make public the plan they established to notify parents
in the community of the potential dangers of their children being left alone
with Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro.

We are also asking that this statement include the
safety plan created when Yisroel Shapiro is davening at Darchi Tzedek or
any synagogue. They also need to make public the safety plan they established
for Wasserman's and Lemberger," the retail business in which Shapiro is employed
and also for any other public location Shapiro may enter.

The Awareness is thankful to Phil Jacobs, executive
editor and the Baltimore Jewish Times for continuing to write about sex crimes
in the Baltimore community. The problem is that Phil Jacobs keeps referring
to Rabbi Israel (Yisroel) Shapiro as "Mr." instead of using his ordained
title of "Rabbi". This is a case of clergy sexual abuse and should be referred
to as such. By not doing so takes away some of the influence and status he
had over the children he molested.

Rabbi Israel (Yisroel) Shaprio is the son of the late
Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro and the brother of two other ordained rabbis. One of
his brothers is living in Maryland and the other residing in Massachusetts,
both are Rosh yeshiva's (deans) of two different Jewish day schools. His
family has a great deal of influence and clout in the orthodox community
of Baltimore, which includes connections with the administration at Ner Israel
Rabbinical College (and high school), Rabbi Moshe Heinemann and Rabbi Yaakov
Hopfer.

Some time ago The Awareness Center put out a CALL FOR
ACTION on this case, which you can download at:
http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/ShapiroYisroel_CallToAction.pdf.

It's odd
that Phil Jacobs never mentioned any of the following demands in his
article:

The Awareness Center is asking that everyone contact
Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz and the Baltimore Vaad HaRabbonim and ask them to:

Make public the plan they established to notify parents
in the community of the potential dangers of their children being left alone
with Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro.

We are also asking that this statement include the
safety plan created when Yisroel Shapiro is davening (praying) at Darchi
Tzedek or any synagogue.

They also need to make public the safety plan they
established for Wasserman's and Lemberger," the retail business in which
Shapiro is employed and also for any other public location Shapiro may
enter.

Wasserman & Leberger - Employer of Yisroel Shapiro

Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer - President

Vaad Harabbonim of Baltimore

410-358-3450

Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz

Congregation Darchei Tzedek

410-653-1688

410-486-0445 (Rabbi Horowitz)

Considering the fact that Phil Jacobs is the executive
editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times, I'm sure he has influence in how long
or short a story is in his paper. Please call and or write to Phil Jacobs
and ask him why he's going soft on this story.

This was the plea entered into court record by Israel
Shapiro before Judge John Miller Tuesday morning in Baltimore City Circuit
Court.

Mr. Shapiro made his plea in response to charges of
three counts of child sexual abuse, three counts of third degree sexual offense,
three counts of fourth degree sex offenses and six counts of second degree
assault. The charges were brought to court by the State's Attorney's Sex
Offense Unit.

Unless a plea deal is made, Mr. Shapiro will appear
in court for an April 1 trial.

The allegations made by plaintiffs dated back to 1987-88
and 1993-94.

Mr. Shapiro, a former bar mitzvah teacher, currently
works in a local butcher shop.

An Orthodox Jew, he appeared in court wearing a gray
suit and gray blue tie, but without wearing any sort of kippah or head covering.
He kept his hands on his knees before rising to face the judge.

That omission of a kippah or yarmulke was noted by
the plaintiff.

"When I saw him walk in without his yarmulke on, I
thought, `What a hypocrite.' He didn't take his yarmulke off when he was
molesting me. But before a judge in a court room, he doesn't have it on,"
said one of two plaintiffs.

Mr. Shapiro was represented before Judge Miller by
local attorney Isaac Klein.

Mr. Shapiro was arrested and charged in early December.
He is the son of the late Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro, himself the center of a
BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES investigation of a alleged sexual molestation.

Before ascending the steps to the fourth floor courtroom
in the Clarence Mitchell Courthouse, one of the plaintiffs in the case, visibly
emotional, said, "I'm feeling sick."

When asked what he wanted to come from the charges,
his answer was simple: "I want him to go to jail," he said.

In the courtroom, the plaintiff, who was just a young
teen when the allegations took place, held hands tightly with his wife.

In the charging documents, the plaintiffs wrote that
"Israel Shapiro would shuckle [or rock back and forth] holding me against
himself and leining [chanting Torah] out loud while he was feeling me up
and touching me."

At another point, the victim reported "I could feel
his erection under me. I would try to get off his lap, but he'd hold me very
tightly. I must have been doing something wrong. I thought it was my fault.
It was very confusing me as a child. I just wanted to learn."

On Tuesday morning, there was no doubting the serious
nature of the situation. Upon entering the courthouse, visitors had to look
at an electronic monitor directing them to the appropriate court room. It
was like searching for one's flight on the video departures board at the
airport. But instead of departures and arrives, the board was divided into
misdemeanors and felonies.

There on the felony side of the board was Mr. Shapiro.
And before a courtroom of people awaiting their time with Judge Miller, Mr.
Shapiro's case was the first one called. The entire not guilty plea took
only minutes.

"It's good there's a trial date," said the plaintiff.
"It's a step in the right direction."_________________________________________________________________________________

Monday, March 10, 2008 -- Judge John P. Miller of the Baltimore City Circuit Court basically gave Rabbi Israel (Yisroel) Shapiro a slap on the hand after entering an Alford plea on crimnal sexual abuse charges.

Shapiro was sentenced to perform 300 hours of community service and to pay $10,800 in restitution to those he criminally sexually abused. In addition, he was ordered by the court to keep away from anyone under the age of 18. The judge also ordered Shapiro to undergo sex offender screening and treatment.

After calling both the Baltimore City Court House and the Baltimore CIty States Attorneys Office, The Awareness Center was able to confirm that Israel (Yisroel) Shapiro will NOT be place on the Maryland Sex Offender Registry. The reason is because Maryland is not in compliance with the federal sex offender registry mandate.

An Alford plea allows a defendant to assert his or her innocence, yet admits that sufficient evidence exists with which the prosecution could probably convince a judge or jury to find the defendant guilty.

It has been confirmed that Yisroel Shapiro is an ordained orthodox rabbi, yet the title has been downplayed in the news media and the community. Shapiro comes from a rabbinic family, in which his father (the late Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro) and his two brothers are also rabbis.

The allegations made by the survivors dated back to 1987-88 and 1993-94. If any of the survivors of Yisroel Shapiro are under the age of 25, they are still eligible to file a civil suit against their offender and also against those who helped to cover up the crime.

According to Maryland law they do not place convicted sex offenders on the state sex offender registry retroactively. If a survivor came forward prior to 1995-96 and the convicted offender was under supervision in 2001, then the offender would be on the registry. Because the survivors in this case waited until recently to come forward, the case would be considered retroactive. This is a law that needs to be changed and put in compliance with the federal mandate.

For more information on this law or if you would like to communicate with Judge John P. Miller:Baltimore City States Attorney OfficeTammi Griffin-LawmanMitchell Courthouse, Room 310410-396-5040Judge John P. MillerBaltimore City Circuit Court410-396-5066_________________________________________________________________________________

Monday, March 10, 2008 -- Judge John P. Miller of the
Baltimore City Circuit Court basically gave Rabbi Israel (Yisroel) Shapiro
a slap on the hand after entering an Alford plea on crimnal sexual abuse
charges.

Shapiro was sentenced to perform 300 hours of community
service and to pay $10,800 in restitution to those he criminally sexually
abused. In addition, he was ordered by the court to keep away from anyone
under the age of 18. The judge also ordered Shapiro to undergo sex offender
screening and treatment.

After calling both the Baltimore City Court House and
the Baltimore CIty States Attorneys Office, The Awareness Center was able
to confirm that Israel (Yisroel) Shapiro will NOT be place on the Maryland
Sex Offender Registry. The reason is because Maryland is not in compliance
with the federal sex offender registry mandate.

An Alford plea allows a defendant to assert his or
her innocence, yet admits that sufficient evidence exists with which the
prosecution could probably convince a judge or jury to find the defendant
guilty.

It has been confirmed that Yisroel Shapiro is an ordained
orthodox rabbi, yet the title has been downplayed in the news media and the
community. Shapiro comes from a rabbinic family, in which his father (the
late Rabbi
Ephraim Shapiro) and his two brothers are also rabbis.

The allegations made by the survivors dated back to
1987-88 and 1993-94. If any of the survivors of Yisroel Shapiro are under
the age of 25, they are still eligible to file a civil suit against their
offender and also against those who helped to cover up the crime.

According to Maryland law they do not place convicted
sex offenders on the state sex offender registry retroactively. If a survivor
came forward prior to 1995-96 and the convicted offender was under supervision
in 2001, then the offender would be on the registry. Because the survivors
in this case waited until recently to come forward, the case would be considered
retroactive. This is a law that needs to be changed and put in compliance
with the federal mandate.

If you are a Jewish survivor of a sex crime (incest,
child sexual abuse, sexual assault, clergy sexual abuse, professional sexual
misconduct) please contact The Awareness Center at 443-857-5560.

For more information on this law or if you would
like to communicate with Judge John P. Miller:

Statement by Vicki Polin, Founder and Executive Director of The Awareness Center, Inc.

Rabbi Yisroel Shapiro Not Placed On Sex Offender Registry - Monday,
March 10, 2008 -- Judge John P. Miller of the Baltimore City Circuit
Court basically gave Rabbi Israel (Yisroel) Shapiro a slap on the hand
after entering an Alford plea on crimnal sexual abuse charges.

Shapiro
was sentenced to perform 300 hours of community service and to pay
$10,800 in restitution to those he criminally sexually abused. In
addition, he was ordered by the court to keep away from anyone under the
age of 18.

After calling both the Baltimore City Court House and
the Baltimore City States Attorneys Office, The Awareness Center was
able to confirm that Israel (Yisroel) Shapiro will NOT
be place on the Maryland Sex Offender Registry. The reason is because
Maryland is not in compliance with the federal sex offender registry
mandate.

An Alford plea allows a defendant to assert his or her
innocence, yet admits that sufficient evidence exists with which the
prosecution could probably convince a judge or jury to find the
defendant guilty.

It has been confirmed that Yisroel Shapiro is
an ordained orthodox rabbi, yet the title has been downplayed in the
news media and the community. Shapiro comes from a rabbinic family, in
which his father (the late Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro) and his two brothers are also rabbis.

The allegations made by the survivors dated back to 1987-88 and 1993-94. If any of the survivors of Yisroel Shapiro
are under the age of 25, they are still eligible to file a civil suit
against their offender and also against those who helped to cover up the
crime.

According to Maryland law they do not place convicted sex
offenders on the state sex offender registry retroactively. If a
survivor came forward prior to 1995-96 and the convicted offender was
under supervision in 2001, then the offender would be on the registry.
Because the survivors in this case waited until recently to come
forward, the case would be considered retroactive. This is a law that
needs to be changed and put in compliance with the federal mandate.

For more information on this law or if you would like to communicate with Judge John P. Miller:Baltimore City States Attorney OfficeTammi Griffin-LawmanMitchell Courthouse, Room 310410-396-5040Judge John P. MillerBaltimore City Circuit Court410-396-5066_________________________________________________________________________________

Shapiro Found
Guilty

By Phil Jacobs

Baltimore Jewish Times - March 10, 2008

Former bar mitzvah lessons teacher Israel Shapiro was
found guilty of child sexual molestation and given five years probation last
Monday morning, March 10, in an Alford plea entered before Judge John P.
Miller in Baltimore City Circuit Court.

With an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit to
a crime and asserts innocence but admits that sufficient evidence exists
with which the prosecution could probably convince a judge or jury to find
the defendant guilty.

Emotions ran high in the packed courtroom as Mr. Shapiro,
a resident of Olympia Avenue in Upper Park Heights who currently works in
a butcher shop, was also sentenced to performing 300 hours of community service
and paying $10,800 in restitution to his victims. In addition, he was ordered
by the court to keep away from anyone under the age of 18.

The charges were brought to the court by the State's
Attorney's Sex Offense Unit. The allegations made by the plaintiffs dated
back to 1987-88 and 1993-94.

Mr. Shapiro was arrested and charged in early December.
He is the son of the late Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro, who was the center of a
BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES investigation of a alleged sexual molestation._________________________________________________________________________________

A former bar mitzvah lessons teacher active in Baltimore's
Orthodox Jewish community pleaded guilty yesterday to sexual child abuse
and a third-degree sex offense after having been accused of abusing two boys
more than a decade ago, according to city prosecutors.

Baltimore Circuit Court Judge John P. Miller sentenced
Israel Shapiro to a suspended five-year prison term and five years of probation.
The judge ordered Shapiro to stay away from the victims, to have no unsupervised
contact with anyone under the age of 18, pay $10,800 in restitution to one
of the boys and perform 300 hours of community service.

The judge also ordered Shapiro to undergo sex offender
screening and treatment, but he will not have to register as a sex offender
with the state because the registry was not in existence when the crimes
occurred.

Police have said in charging documents that the abuse
occurred on separate occasions in September 1988 and June 1994, when the
boys were 12 and 13 years old. Police said the boys were learning to chant
passages from the Torah at Shapiro's home on Olympia Avenue.

Accusations against Shapiro were known throughout
Baltimore's Orthodox community for years when the victims circulated fliers
with his name and picture. One of the posters was posted on the Web site
of the Awareness Center Inc., an advocacy group on behalf of Jewish victims
of sexual abuse in Baltimore.

BALTIMORE - A group of Jewish advocates against sexual
assault is angry over a plea deal for a Baltimore City rabbi who pleaded
guilty to abusing young boys but avoided jail time.

"I'm very upset about it," said Vicki Polin of the
Awareness Center in the city.

"He should go to jail. I'm also very upset that he
won't be on the sex offender registry."

Israel Shapiro, 57, pleaded guilty Monday to one count
of sexual abuse of a child and one count of third-degree sex offense before
Baltimore City Circuit Judge John Miller and was sentenced to five years
of probation.

He must stay away from his victims and have no unsupervised
contact with children, under the terms of the plea agreement, prosecutors
said.

Shapiro also was ordered to pay $10,800 in restitution
to one of the victims, undergo sex offender screening and treatment.

He is also prohibited from using a computer to contact
children.

Shapiro was not required to register as a sex offender
because the incidents occurred before the sex offender registry was
created.

Lawmakers in Annapolis are working on a bill that would
make the registry retroactive.

Baltimore City State's Attorney Patricia Jessamy said
in an interview Monday she was hoping to get the law changed to make Maryland
residents aware of the those living in their neighborhoods who committed
sexual offenses prior to the creation of the registry.

A statement of probable cause is not in Shapiro's court
file because Shapiro was charged by a grand jury indictment.

But Polin said the abuse dates back to 1988 and involves
12- and 13-year-old boys whom Shapiro taught.

The Awareness Center posted a photo of Shapiro on its
Web site to make the Jewish community in the Baltimore region aware of the
allegations against Shapiro, she said.

But Polin said she worries that without Shapiro registering
as a sex offender, there won't be enough scrutiny on him.

"This guy goes into a synagogue where there's tons
of little kids, and no one is monitoring him," Polin said.

A former teacher of bar mitzvah lessons who was active in
Baltimore's Orthodox Jewish community has been sentenced to a suspended
five-year prison term and five years of probation after having been
accused of abusing two boys more than a decade ago, according to city
prosecutors.

Israel Shapiro agreed to an Alford plea, and the judge entered a finding of guilt to child sexual abuse and a third-degree sex
offense. Under an Alford plea, a defendant denies guilt but concedes
that prosecutors have enough evidence against him for a conviction.

Baltimore Circuit Judge John P. Miller ordered Shapiro to stay away
from the victims, to have no unsupervised contact with children under
the age of 18, to pay $10,800 in restitution to one of the boys and to
perform 300 hours of community service.

At a hearing Monday, Miller also ordered Shapiro to undergo sex offender screening and treatment, but he will not have to register as a sex offender because the registry did not exist when the incidents occurred.

Police have said in charging documents that the abuse occurred on
separate occasions in September 1988 and June 1994, when the boys were
12 and 13 years old. Police said the boys were learning to chant
passages from the Torah at Shapiro's home on Olympia Avenue.

Accusations against Shapiro were known throughout Baltimore's Orthodox
community for years when the victims circulated fliers with his name and
picture. One of the posters was put on the Web site of the Awareness
Center Inc., an advocacy group on behalf of Jewish victims of sexual
abuse in Baltimore. _________________________________________________________________________________

Dec. 23--Baltimore officials paid a $200,000 settlement to a
distinguished violinist who had been wrongly arrested on child abuse
charges and withheld his name, citing his desire for confidentiality,
but the man's attorney says it was the city -- not his client -- who
requested secrecy.

Yakov Y. Shapiro, a musician
and teacher, filed suit against the city after he was jailed for 40
hours on child abuse allegations because of a police clerical error.
Officers issued a warrant for the Germantown man although they had been
seeking a Baltimore man named Yisroel Shapiro, who is three years younger and 9 inches taller.

On Wednesday, city officials disputed the attorney's claims and said
they acted in an effort to protect Yakov Shapiro. The details of the
settlement were first reported by The Daily Record after a months-long
investigation.

"My information, and I have no
reason to doubt it, was that [the confidentiality agreement] was in
there at the insistence of the plaintiff or the plaintiff's lawyer,"
said City Solicitor George Nilson. "My understanding was that he was
relieved that there was not further publicity around the lawsuit when it
was published."

"If the only purpose is to
protect the city from embarrassment, that's not in my judgment a
sufficient reason" to not disclose the name," said Nilson. "That was not
the purpose here." But Steven D. Kupferberg, an
attorney for Yakov Shapiro, said he was surprised to spot the
confidentiality clause in the written agreement because city officials
had not discussed it in the meeting in which they hammered out the
settlement deal.

"I wrote back to [Assistant City
Solicitor Neal M. Janey Jr.] and said that wasn't part of our
discussion and we would rather not enter into that type of agreement,"
Kupferberg said. "He said we had to go with his wording or the case
wouldn't settle."

In March, when the city's
spending board -- which includes Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake,
Comptroller Joan M. Pratt and City Council President Bernard C. "Jack"
Young -- approved the settlement, a mayoral spokesman told The Baltimore
Sun that the plaintiff "demanded confidentiality as part of the
settlement agreement."

"We've attempted to
provide as much transparency as possible within the confines" of the
agreement, Ryan O'Doherty, a spokesman for Rawlings-Blake, said at the
time.

O'Doherty did not answer questions
Wednesday about whether city officials misrepresented or were
misinformed about the details of the settlement, saying in a statement
only that it was "undeniable" that the plaintiff's attorney had agreed
to and signed the settlement.

"The entire Board
of Estimates, including three independently elected officials, approved
the agreement in the interest of protecting the claimant from further
harm," he said. "The solicitor believes that protecting the claimant was
an entirely appropriate objective and has no second thoughts."

Former U.S. Attorney for Maryland and former state Attorney General
Stephen H. Sachs said he saw no justification for withholding
information about such a large city expenditure.
"I don't care who asks for it. A settlement of that sort ... the public
has a right to know the facts of how $200,000 is being spent and to whom
and why," Sachs said. "To me, that's self-evident. It's irrelevant
whether the motive was to protect the victim at his request or whether
the motive was to protect a policeman who blundered.

"Those things, to me, are and ought to be irrelevant," he said. "The
public has a right to know how its money is being spent. End of story."

Pratt said she agreed to keep Shapiro's name private because Nilson
informed her it was a confidential settlement. She said she did not ask
Nilson who had requested secrecy.

"I believed him," Pratt said. "I hope this is an isolated incident."

She said she would demand more details if asked to approve confidential settlements in the future.

Attempts to reach Young for comment were unsuccessful Wednesday.

The city and Shapiro agreed that some details of the settlement could
become public after a legal challenge by The Daily Record.

According to court documents, Shapiro was arrested in November 2007
after Officer Keith Merryman, a member of the sex crimes division,
searched in the state motor vehicle database for an accused sex offender
named Yisroel Shapiro.

Two brothers had told police and prosecutors that Yisroel Shapiro
had molested them more than a decade ago in his Baltimore home while
preparing them for their bar mitzvahs, according to the documents.

In a deposition, Merryman said that Yakov Shapiro was the only person
he found in the state when he searched for a "Y. Shapiro" in the
database. Although Yakov Shapiro lives in Germantown, not Baltimore, a
warrant was issued in his name.

The warrant listed Yisroel Shapiro's
address, but also included details of Yakov Shapiro's physical
description culled from his motor vehicle records. Police never went to Yisroel Shapiro's home; rather, officers knocked on Yakov Shapiro's door as he was heading out to baby-sit his granddaughter.

Through his attorney, Yakov Shapiro declined a request for an
interview. But in an interview with a psychiatrist that was included in
court papers, the physically slight man, then 60, described the
"frightening" experience of being arrested and herded into a small cell
with 25 other men, many of whom appeared to be on drugs or ill.

Yakov Shapiro's son defended his father at a bail review hearing and
explained that he had still been living in the former Soviet Union,
where he grew up, when the first molestation episode was alleged to have
occurred. He explained that his father had never taught bar mitzvah
lessons, did not speak Hebrew and had only visited Baltimore on a few
occasions, according to court records.

After his
son offered his home as collateral to post a $40,000 bond, Shapiro was
freed. But his ordeal was far from over -- administrators and parents at
the Montgomery County Jewish community center where he taught had been
informed of the charges against him, according to court records.

Although police quickly realized their mistake and arrested Yisroel Shapiro,
it took months to clear the incorrect warrant from law enforcement
databases, Kupferberg said. His client was afraid to leave the house
during that time for fear that he would be rearrested, according to
court papers.

In an interview with the
psychiatrist, Yakov Shapiro said he was "anxious and edgy" after the
arrest and developed symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress
disorder. 'He finds it incredibly ironic that all
the time he lived in the Soviet Union he was never arrested, but here
in the United States, a place he chose for its promise of safety and
freedom from harassment, he was falsely arrested, detained and
slandered," psychiatrist and expert witness Susan J. Fiester wrote in a
court report.

Kupferberg said his client did not
ask city officials to withhold his name because he did not want "people
to think he had covered something up."

Kupferberg
said that after The Sun reported in March that officials were not
divulging the name at the plaintiff's request, he sent an e-mail message
to Janey, the assistant city solicitor, asking him to correct the
information.

Nilson, Janey's supervisor, said he had not seen such an e-mail and could not confirm that it had been received.

Kupferberg raised concerns that police could repeat the error. Anthony
Guglielmi, a Baltimore police spokesman, said he could not reveal
whether Merryman had been reprimanded because it was part of his
personnel file and therefore protected from public scrutiny.

Shapiro's arrest was a "very unfortunate mistake and a training issue," he said.
"At the end of the day, our officers try really hard and arrest about
70,000 people a year," he said. That's not an excuse, but that's why we
have to do our part when it comes to training and things like that."

Yisroel Shapiro,
who is also identified in court records as Israel Shapira, pleaded
guilty to one count of child abuse. He was sentenced to two days in jail
on a five year suspended sentence and remains on probation.

_________________________________________________________________________________Baltimore officials insist lawsuit secrecy not their ideaBy Justin FentonBaltimore Sun - December 24, 2010 Dec. 24--Baltimore officials hit back Thursday at claims that they
pushed for secrecy in a six-figure settlement involving a man mistakenly
arrested by city police, providing a document that they say shows the
man's lawyer pushed for confidentiality.

But the
lawyer responded by releasing other documents that he says prove the
city initiated the discussion over privacy, and that his
counterproposals were made to protect his client.

In the end, each side stood firm in its contention that the other was
not being truthful, but both agreed that the episode had become
"regrettable."

The plaintiff, Germantown
violinist Yakov Shapiro, was arrested in 2008 when police were actually
seeking a bar mitzvah teacher from Baltimore named Israel Shapira, also
identified in court records as Yisroel Shapiro.
Despite Yakov Shapiro's protests, a judge increased his bail and he was
jailed for nearly two days. He filed a claim in federal court seeking
millions in damages.

Both sides agreed to a
$200,000 settlement earlier this year. But the dollar amount was left
off public documents when the Board of Estimates, the city's spending
board, approved the agreement in March, and there was no disclosure of
who was receiving the money or why. Officials said that omitting the
amount was a mistake, but refused to release the name or discuss the
case, saying the plaintiff had "demanded" confidentiality.

Shapiro's name came to light this week in the business publication The
Daily Record, which used its own attorneys to compel the disclosure.
Shapiro's attorney, Steven D. Kupferberg of Rockville, said that he had
been opposed to the confidentiality language in the agreement.

City Hall officials are sensitive to charges of secrecy, with Mayor
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who took office this year after a fraud
scandal toppled her predecessor, making government ethics and openness a
major goal.

Baltimore officials maintain that
the secrecy was not their idea, even though they acknowledge that they
typically seek a "non-disparagement" clause as part of such agreements
to keep details out of the media. In this case, the clause was altered
to include a gag order on both city officials and the plaintiff.

Kupferberg said he always objected to the original clause but tried to work with the city after they insisted.

City officials insisted Thursday that Kupferberg first brought up the
issue of confidentiality at a settlement conference, an off-the-record
discussion that includes a judge.

"Our counsel
heard what you would expect -- a concern about the client not having to
suffer anymore, to be protected from further publicity," said City
Solicitor George Nilson.

City attorneys produced a
Feb. 18 letter from Kupferberg in response to their draft agreement in
which he suggests replacing their "non-disparagement" clause with a
section titled "confidentiality agreement." In e-mail responses, city
attorneys said his changes were not possible because the agreement had
to go before the Board of Estimates.

"When monies
are paid on [the city's] behalf, that fact is subject to public
inspection," an attorney for the Police Department, Neal M. Janey, wrote
to Kupferberg. "There is nothing we can do about that."

But Nilson said they decided to make a special accommodation for
Shapiro. "It was one of those things that was right and fair to the
plaintiff," he said.

Kupferberg denied that he
broached the topic at the settlement conference. His two associates in
an interview with The Baltimore Sun also said it never came up at the
conference and said they were willing to sign affidavits attesting to
that.

"At no point in time was any of that ever
discussed or suggested as an option until sometime after the mediation
meeting, at their insistence," said David Hainline, another lawyer
working on the case.

In a Feb. 9 letter to city
attorneys, Kupferberg asks the city for time to review the settlement
"since you have suggested a confidentiality agreement as to the amount
of the settlement, which was not an issue at our mediation."

Their language, he said Thursday, meant "my client was being gagged,
and nobody else." By imposing the confidentiality restrictions on the
city as well, it would level the playing field, he said.

"It was never discussed that it would be secret at the Board of
Estimates; that's not my bailiwick," Kupferberg said. "If they told me
the name had to be released [on public spending documents], the name
would be released. It was a take-it-or-leave-it proposition given to me
by" the city, he said. "It's pretzel logic." _________________________________________________________________________________

One by one the victims stood and described their alleged molesters:
the Torah teacher, the rabbi, the ice cream truck driver, the man at the
mikvah.

That meeting, held nearly six years ago
in a small room in a synagogue in Pikesville, just outside Baltimore,
went on for four hours. Seated in a circle with the other victims was
Phil Jacobs, a Baltimore Jewish Times journalist. He was not there as a
reporter. He was there because he, too, had experienced sexual abuse.

But after the meeting, a young man who knew Jacobs was a journalist
approached and asked to be interviewed, to have his story told. That was
the beginning of Jacobs's effort to document sexual abuse in
Baltimore's Orthodox Jewish community, bringing the harrowing
experiences shared by the 18 victims in that room out into the open.

The first of his stories, "Today, Steve is 25"was published in February 2007, 10 months after the Pikesville meeting.

That process of reporting and writing has been made into a documentary
film, "Standing Silent," directed by Scott Rosenfelt and now being shown
at film festivals across the country. Partially funded by a Sundance
Institute grant, it details how Jacobs, an Orthodox Jew himself, has
been credited with - and criticized for - uncovering a painful secret in
Baltimore's Orthodox community.

"I saw a
narrative character that was in great conflict between protecting his
faith and his community and protecting children and humanity," says
Rosenfelt, who is an established producer ("Home Alone," "Mystic Pizza")
as well as a family friend of Jacobs. "To me it was bigger than an
action film. Phil's journey is a classic hero's journey - it has all the
makings of a great movie."

"Standing Silent" was
filmed between 2007 and 2010, with a three-person crew that traveled
with Jacobs through Baltimore's suburbs and to Israel, eventually
recording more than 125 hours of video, much of it interviews with
victims and alleged perpetrators.

The story took
over Jacobs's career in a way that surprised him. Tall and lanky with a
softspoken manner, Jacobs, 58, still lives in Baltimore and is still
married to his high school sweetheart. The Baltimore native and
University of Maryland alumnus had worked for the Jewish Times company
for 30 years, and while he "never wanted to cover Bubbie and Zaidy at
the Gefilte Fish Ball," he says from his new Rockville office at
Washington Jewish Week, where he became editor in chief last summer, "I
also didn't expect this."

"Standing Silent"
depicts a community struggling to come to terms with a problem that,
Jacobs says, has remained underreported for years and seems only
recently to have attracted the attention of advocates and lawmakers.

There are no hard numbers to document the extent of the problem, but
Elaine Witman, director of the Shofar Coalition, a nonprofit agency that
provides services for victims of sexual and other abuse in the
Baltimore area's Jewish community, says the center is seeing an increase
in the number of Jews coming forward to report abuse. In 2010, 67
people requested help for childhood sexual abuse from the coalition.
That number nearly doubled in 2011, to 132 people, said Witman, who
attributes the increase to Jacobs's articles and the coalition's efforts
to reduce the shame that has kept the issue quiet for so long.

Jacobs says he was haunted by the abuse he says he suffered as a child
but that" it was 1967 and no one talked about things like that, and I
didn't have the words to describe it."

There are
also cultural reasons for silence, stemming at least in part from a
Jewish law known as "mesirah," which forbids informing on a fellow Jew
to secular authorities. The law is integral to a culture of
self-protection rooted in centuries of anti-Semitism, according to Rabbi
Yosef Blau, spiritual adviser of Yeshiva University in New York.

Reporting sexual abuse first to a rabbi is the recommended protocol of
Agudath Israel of America, a national Orthodox umbrella group with an
affiliated synagogue in Pikesville. The organization - whose influence
in some Orthodox communities is similar to that of the Vatican among
some Catholics, Blau says - issues opinions on policy matters.

Blau, whose efforts to hold the community accountable for sexual abuse
are highlighted in the documentary, says the protocol endangers
children. He draws a parallel with the Roman Catholic Church, where a
pervasive culture of silence and denial made clergy unlikely to pass
abuse accusations along to police.

"Why go to a
rabbi? Are these rabbis qualified? Do you call the police if you want to
find out if food is kosher?" said Blau. "The problem is the community
doesn't want to bring a shame on Orthodox Judaism if these crimes get
reported. But I would argue that we have an obligation to protect our
children first."

The documentary's release comes
as elected officials across the country are pushing for tougher
reporting laws, partly in response to allegations of abuse in another
tight-knit community - the football program at Penn State.

Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) has introduced a bill that would
withhold federal funds from states that fail to enact laws requiring all
adults to report abuse to police. Maryland state Sen. Nancy Jacobs,
(R-Harford) introduced a bill recently that could make failing to report
sexual abuse a crime punishable by a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.
And in New York, State Assemblywoman Margaret Markey is promoting a bill
that would extend the statute of limitations for sexual abuse victims,
both for criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits.

Speaking out
What emerges most clearly from "Standing Silent" are the costs of
failing to report abuse, told largely through the experience of the man
who organized the original Pikesville meeting that Jacobs attended,
Yacov Margolese.

You only need to hear
Margolese's story, Jacobs explains, to understand how corrosive keeping
quiet can be. These days, though, Margolese tells it more openly.

The oldest of nine children, Margolese moved to the Baltimore suburb in
1987 from Far Rockaway in Queens. He remembers as a 13-year-old wanting
to increase his level of religious observance, to learn the skills
required to sing the Torah like so many of his new neighbors had. So,
Margolese says, his parents hired Israel Shapiro,
a burly, jovial man known for having a way with children, as a Torah
tutor. Margolese alleges that Shapiro soon began fondling him during the
lessons. Margolese says he told a rabbi about the abuse and that the
rabbi advised him to tell Shapiro he wanted to focus on his studies. He
did so, but the abuse continued, he said, and after a few months, he
told his parents he had learned enough.

For years
afterward, Margolese says, he suffered from suicidal depression. He
felt like he needed to cleanse himself, become more religious. "But as I
grew up, I couldn't reconcile the hypocrisy," Margolese says.

He survived, but his faith did not. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks,
Margolese joined the Army and was posted to Baghdad. When he came home
in 2004, he started a construction business with his brother. His
efforts to talk about his abuse were almost always met with denial by
family and community members, he says. "It's like a victim was standing
in front of them covered in blood and wounds," he said. "They would say,
'Don't worry, you'll be fine.' "

It wasn't until
2007 that Margolese - galvanized by the out-of-state arrest of a former
member of Baltimore's Orthodox Jewish community for child sexual abuse
-reported Shapiro's actions to the police and convened the Pikesville
meeting. "It was the beginning of an awakening in Baltimore," Margolese
says.

After it became known that he had gone to
the police, Margolese says, members of Baltimore's Orthodox community
urged him to drop the matter - "Stop your crusade to destroy people and
leave it," he remembers one person said. His father, Mordecai Zev
Margolese, 61, said his son received anonymous death threats over the
telephone.

In March 2008, Shapiro received a
five-year suspended sentence after filing an Alford plea, which means
the defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges that the prosecution
has enough evidence to convict him. Shapiro's name is now on the
Maryland Sex Offender Registry. He works at a kosher butcher shop in Pikesville and declined to comment for this story.

Recently, Yacov's father watched "Standing Silent" at a Shofar
Coalition screening. "When he told me about his sexual abuse, I didn't
react to Yacov at all. I thought he was making mountains out of
molehills," said Mordecai Zev Margolese. "The film really opened my
eyes. I really cried a lot. Now, at least, he's standing up for what he
believes, and I'm proud of him. It takes a lot of guts." 'A lonely voice'

After the publication of "Today, Steve is 25," Jacobs says his phone
suddenly became the "hotline for victims of molestation in the Orthodox
Jewish community."

He was especially shocked to
receive half a dozen calls accusing Rabbi Jacob Max, the man who had
officiated at his wedding, of molesting women. (In April 2009, Max, 85,
was convicted of sexually molesting a 44-year-old woman. He was
sentenced to one year of incarceration, which was suspended, and one
year of court-ordered unsupervised probation; he died in August.)

One scene in the documentary captures Jacobs immediately before calling
Rabbi Max to ask about the allegations. "I'm very nervous. I'm throw-up
nervous," Jacobs says to his editor, adding, "If this was easy, I would
be very worried about myself."

Criticism of
Jacobs intensified when he began writing stories about three men who
said they had been sexually abused by a religious figure, a deceased
member of Baltimore's Orthodox Jewish community.

"The Orthodox community was thunderstruck by the suggestion that people
who we entrust in such religious bastions could do this," said Rabbi
Emeritus Chaim Landau, with the Ner Tamid Congregation in Pikesville.
"People felt the [Jewish Times] was exposing dirty laundry."

Many people
accused him of lashon hora, the Hebrew term for negative speech that
harms another, and that is considered a sin. He was criticized on Web
sites and received hate mail, with one blogger even writing that he
hoped Jacobs's two daughters would be barren. Rabbi Moshe Heinemann,
head of Star-K, a Baltimore kosher certifying agency, who also works
with the Agudath Israel of Baltimore, called for a ban on the Baltimore
Jewish Times, posting a letter in his synagogue that read, "It is
totally inappropriate for this publication to be found in any Jewish
home." Heinemann could not be reached for comment but earlier defended
his letter in interviews with victims' groups, saying he felt the paper
was "orthodox bashing."

"So it was 'Kill the
messenger.' I know Phil's is a lonely voice at times, which makes it all
the more important that it be heard," said former Baltimore Jewish
Times editor Gary Rosenblatt, now editor and publisher of the New York
Jewish Week.

"Standing Silent" pays tribute to that messenger - and makes sure his message continues to be heard.

"There have been a number of documentaries around sex
abuse in the Catholic Church, but the thing that stands out about this
is that it locates this problem in an entirely different context," said
Thom Powers, artistic director at DOC NYC, a New York-based documentary
festival. "And I think the filmmaker's closeness to the subject is a big
part of the power of this film. What you really see is an unusual level
of trust and access and a great deal of sensitivity."

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Survivors ARE Heroes!

The Awareness Center believes ALL survivors of sex crimes should be given yellow ribbons to wear proudly.

Survivors of sexual violence (as adults and/or as a child) are just as deserving of a yellow ribbon as the men and women of our armed forces, who have been held captive as hostages or prisoners of war.

Survivors of sexual violence have been forced to learn how to survive, being held captive not by foreigners, but mostly by their own family members, teachers, camp counselors, coaches babysitters, rabbis, cantors or other trusted authority figures.

For these reasons ALL survivors of sexual violence should be seen as heroes!